The Education University of Hong Kong received 26 awards at the 7th International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN) in 2022, including seven gold medals, three silver, five grand awards and 11 special prizes. It marked a new record high since the University’s first participation in 2018.
Two of the University’s inventions received the Best Invention Awards, including ‘A New Generation of Dissolved Oxygen Sensor Using Replaceable Photo-sensing Film’, which was granted the Top 10 Best Invention Award. The invention was developed by Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun, Advisor (Environmental Science) at the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES), and his team. It is a novel device which detects and sends out a permanent record of dissolved oxygen levels using replaceable photo-sensing film. It overcomes the prolonged difficulties of monitoring the marine pollution over large areas of water bodies.
An EdTech invention ‘e-Orch’ developed by Dr Leung Chi-hin, Assistant Professor at the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA), was awarded the Top 20 Best Invention Award. It is a system consisting of an app and cloud-based software specifically designed for music performance and composition. Integrated with the patented Grid Notation, virtual instruments and AI music generator, the invention makes music education accessible and inclusive.
Congratulating the winners, Professor Chetwyn Chan Che-hin, Vice President (Research and Development), said, “The award-winning innovations cover educational technology, marine conservation, art tech and green construction material, etc. It reflects the broadening scope of our research and knowledge transfer. It is encouraging to see that some of our inventions have been successfully licensed or patented, and are creating a positive impact on society. EdUHK will continue to forge knowledge transfer collaboration with different sectors.”
iCAN is an international competition launched in 2016. This year, the competition received 650 applications from 81 countries and regions. EdUHK’s awarding-winning projects are as follows:
Project: A New Generation of Dissolved Oxygen Sensor Using Replaceable Photo-sensing Film
Principal Investigator: Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun at SES
Award(s): Gold Medal, Top 10 Best Invention Award, Special Award
Project: Reimagining Music Learning with e-Orch
Principal Investigator: Dr Leung Chi-hin at CCA
Award(s): Gold Medal, Top 20 Best Invention Award, Special Award
Project: Upcycling Waste Residuals into Value-added Eco-coasters: From Environmental Facilities to Tables
Principal Investigator: Dr Tsang Yiu-fai at SES
Award(s): Gold Medal, Organizer’s Choice Award, Special Award
Project: Facilitating Emotion Classification Based on Non-Intrusive Learner Data via Deep Neural Networks
Principal Investigator: Dr Zou Di at the Department of English Language Education (ELE)
Award(s): Gold Medal, Jury’s Choice Award, Special Award
Project: Advanced Tai Chi Experience: An Integration of Novel Typefaces and AR Technology
Principal Investigator: Dr Hung Keung at CCA
Award(s): Gold Medal, Two Special Awards
Project: UNISON: Unpaired Cross-lingual Image Captioning
Principal Investigator: Professor Philip Yu Leung-ho at the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology
Award(s): Gold Medal, Special Award
Project: Personalised vocabulary learning system based on artificial intelligence techniques
Principal Investigator: Dr Zou Di at ELE
Award(s): Gold Medal, Special Award
Project: iMaze: A Fun Working Memory Training for Pre-school Children from Low-income Families
Principal Investigator: Dr Kean Poon Kei-yan at the Department of Special Education and Counselling
Award(s): Silver Medal, Best Woman Inventor Award, Special Award
Project: CKC Strokes – An Online Practice Tool for Chinese Strokes Writing
Principal Investigator: Dr Tse Ka-ho at the Department of Chinese Language Studies
Award(s): Silver Medal, Special Award
Project: Smart hands: Are you sure?
Principal Investigator: Dr Peggy Or Pui-lai at the Department of Health and Physical Education
Award(s): Silver Medal, Special Award